New Britain, Conn. (April 24, 2015) – In a back-and-forth game featuring four ties and three lead changes, the Mount St. Mary's University women's lacrosse team finished on the short end of a 9-8 final score in Friday's Northeast Conference showdown versus Central Connecticut on the road at Arute Field. Senior Erin Seipp (Towson, Md.) registered four goals to move into the Mount's top 10 for career goals. 

With the results from today's games around the NEC, the Mount (5-10, 4-2 NEC) locked up the third seed and will face second-seeded Wagner in the semifinals at Bryant on May 1.

"We started off slow today and were complacent in many areas on the field," Mount St. Mary's Head Coach Lauren Schwarzmann said. "CCSU played really hard, and they deserve a lot of credit for the way they played today. We look forward to playing on Sunday and making some adjustments from today."

After Seipp scored on the Mount's first possession just 28 seconds into the game, the Blue Devils (5-10, 2-4 NEC) reeled off four goals in a row prompting a Mount St. Mary's timeout.

The Mountaineers responded with goals off the sticks of Seipp and Sammie Knapp (Cub Hill, Md.) to cut CCSU's lead down to 4-3 with 15:14 to go before the half. The Blue Devils were able to take a 5-3 edge into the locker rooms thanks to Falynn McCartney's strike with 5:43 left in the half.

Out of the intermission, the Mount shot out of the gate with three-consecutive goals to retake the lead at 6-5 with 21:42 remaining. Nicole Lantuh (Bethesda, Md.) started the run two minutes in with a strike off a Marley Heller (Baltimore, Md.) feed, before Heller scored a goal of her own less than five minutes later. Seipp, who recorded her seventh multi-goal game of the season, completed the run with a free position goal.

Both sides converted free position attempts over the next eight minutes as Kelly Maloney (Ellicott City, Md.) tallied her team-leading 26th goal to give the Mount a 7-6 edge.

Just 1:05 after Maloney's goal, however, the Blue Devils went on a 3-0 run with goals from Marissa Soto, Kylie Sullivan and Madison Hughes for a 9-7 CCSU lead.

Seipp scored a free position goal with 4:41 left to get the Mountaineers within one, but that was as close as they would get the rest of the way.

In a last ditch effort to knot the score at 9-9, Seipp fired a shot on goal with eight seconds remaining, but CCSU goalkeeper Morgan Tuller made the save to give the home side the victory. Tuller finished with six saves, while Steph Rurkowski (Manlius, N.Y.) posted nine saves on the other end for the Mount.

Freshman Emily Dees (Baltimore, Md.) led the Mount on defense with four ground balls and two caused turnovers.

The Mountaineers close the regular season on Sunday with a road game at Bryant in Smithfield, R.I. at 1 p.m. The Northeast Conference Tournament begins with the semifinals on May 1.

GAME NOTE: Erin Seipp passed Esther Rufolo '12 and Beth Fischer '00 for 10th place on the Mount's all-time goals list with 89. 

-- Mount St. Mary's University Athletics --